Opinion: Vital measure will help curb gun violence

A NEW JERSEY Assembly panel voted to support a bill (A2006) that would reduce the maximum capacity of ammunition magazines to 10 rounds. While the bill is significant, the concept is not new, nor is it unique. What the Legislature seeks to do is to join other states that have moved to a 10-round limit.

New Jersey legislators are working to correct a decades old mistake made when the U.S. Congress allowed the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban, which included a 10-round magazine limit, to expire. With this bill, New Jersey, a long-time leader in gun safety legislation, can continue to remain at the forefront of this important struggle to help address the gun violence that ravages our communities.

Unfortunately, we have many examples of how limiting the size of ammunition magazines has saved lives. Shootings at Northern Illinois University, a Knoxville church, a Tucson parking lot, on the Long Island Railroad and at Sandy Hook Elementary School were all lessened by brave individuals who, in the moments when the perpetrator stopped to reload, were able to escape or prevent the loss
of more lives.

These are non-hypothetical and actual examples of how limiting magazines to 10 rounds will make New Jersey a safer place for our families and communities.

Anti-regulation gun advocates claim that 10-round magazines are not standard, but they are wrong. High-capacity magazines are a relatively new phenomenon, gaining traction due to gun lobby marketing, not due to necessity or constitutionally afforded rights. In fact, the U.S. Supreme Court recently refused to hear an application challenging limitation on ammunition magazines in Sunnyvale, Calif. Judge Whyte, a U.S. district court judge who had previously rejected the same request, explained that a limit on ammunition magazines does not constrain the constitutional right to bear arms in self defense.

Real-life situations

In fact, Judge Whyte cited an NRA-sponsored study that showed when a firearm was used in self-defense, the average number of rounds expended was fewer than three. This means the average number of rounds used in self defense is one or two. Not 22, not 12. In real-life situations, a 10-round magazine limit would not affect the ability of gun owners to defend their families or themselves.

For a decade, America enforced this limit and gun owners still were able to purchase firearms, hunt, participate in sport shooting and protect their homes. And there were positive changes as well: In Virginia, within just a few years after the national limit took effect, law enforcement saw a significant drop in recovered large-capacity magazines.

By the last year of the ban, the number had fallen to just 10 percent of recovered guns having large-capacity magazines. Once the ban was allowed to expire, that number quickly doubled, to more than 20 percent. The reality is that fewer criminals obtain large-capacity magazines when they are limited.

Gun advocates make false claims concerning what is considered standard for magazine capacity. The FBI defines a “standard magazine” as having a 10-round capacity. Anything above that is considered large capacity. Ten-round magazines are common and can be found for many guns, including both New Jersey compliant AR-15 style rifles and Glock 19.
New Jersey’s effort to set a 10-round ammunition limit to magazines makes sense and is a logical response to the real world in which we live.

Some arguments against this bill presented before the Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee last week ranged from inconvenience to infringement. A few gun extremists even claimed they wouldn’t comply if the bill becomes law. The Legislature and governor must not be swayed by conflicting anecdotes about inconvenience and imagined hypotheticals when it comes to public safety. The facts and events of recent history show us the truth in strong and real terms. It’s simple: Magazines with fewer bullets mean fewer deaths.

New Jersey’s legislative leadership has pledged to see this bill through. The bill now moves to the New Jersey Senate and then, hopefully, to Governor Christie’s desk to be signed. Christie has stated that his first duty is to protect the public safety of New Jerseyans.

Governor must sign bill

If the governor is serious about doing the job he was elected to do, he must sign this sensible, reasonable and important bill. New Jerseyans across the Garden State should let Christie know that we value the lives of our children, our families, our neighbors and ourselves enough to demand that he sign this common-sense bill to limit magazine size to 10 rounds of ammunition.